Cade Cunningham and Pistons blow out Hawks: 3 takeaways

Keep grinding Killian Hayes

I thought Killian Hayes had one of his strongest games of the season on both ends. He did well on the switches and showed he can handle his own against power forwards in the paint.

He really ran the offense, especially when Cade was on the bench, made a couple of really slick passes and was more aggressive with the ball.

He ended with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes off the bench.

He had some good pick-and-roll work that showed progress even though it didn’t always lead to points. He and Bagley III had a couple of nice PnR plays, two of which led to Bagley bunnies that he simply missed.

Hayes also pulled up in the mid-range and looked comfortable doing so, which is also progress.

This may sound like I am giving Hayes a participation trophy, but I am glad to see him continuing to grind and improve even though he’s been battling myriad injuries all season.

First it was the hip, then the thumb, then he took a knee to the marbles from his own teammate, then got brained by Kelly Olynyk two days later, knocking him out (almost literally) for a few games with a head contusion.

It’s been a difficult season for him to get into a rhythm, so it was nice to see him in control and playing well last night.

When Hayes is playing well, he impacts the game similarly to Marcus Smart, who has given him a blueprint for how to be a success without scoring much.